Clean Win 7 Install

[opel80uk]

Hi Guys and Gals

Second (and hopefully last!) question regarding the clean install of Win 7 of my rig. I've read in a few places that when installing Win 7 (or other OS's for that matter) that it's probably best to partition the drive and install both the 32 and 64 bit versions. Is that something that people would recommend? I plan on using the 64bit as my main OS so was wondering what the benefits of installing the 32bit as well, aside from compatibility issues with certain programmes?

And lastly, any tips or advice regarding the install would be appreciated! (The obvious things that are missed or forgotten about often!)

Cheers

[Champman99]

I've never seen that advised by anyone personally, and wouldnt advise it myself.

The only circumstance I would recommend 32-bit at all is if you have a specific bit of software or hardware with known driver/compatability issues with 64bit (as you mention), or it is arguable if you have <3GB of RAM to address there will be no performance benefit and you might as well have the guaranteed compatability of 32-bit.

Personally I have never run into any issues running only 64-bit on all my (many) machines.

[0iD]

I see no reason in this day & age to install a 32bit OS on 64bit capable hardware. Never had probs with either 64bit Vista or Win7.

[smargh]

32bit is better supported if you want to be compatible with most/all rootkit drivers.

Or, to put another way, 64bit protects you a little bit because the malware writers so far haven't been arsed to write 64bit drivers.

You just need to remember to look for the 64bit options when downloading low-level things like hardware drivers, anti-virus apps etc.

Don't bother with Office 2010 64bit - I think add-ons need to be specifically compiled, and some stuff out of the box doesn't work (OneNote, I believe).